Old Irish Online

Lesson 2

Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, Caren Esser, and Jonathan Slocum

The text passages of this and the following two lessons are taken from the story entitled Táin Bó Regamna "The Cattle Raid of the Important Calf," which, like the text in Lesson 1, forms part of the Ulster Cycle. The story belongs to the Irish literary genre of Tána Bó, meaning "cattle raids," and is a prelude to its most prominent representative, the Táin Bó Cuailnge (TBC) "The Cattle Raid of Cooley," which can be dated to the 8th-11th century AD and relates how the Ulster hero Cú Chulainn wins back the Brown Bull after it had been stolen by Medb, queen of the neighbouring province of Connacht. The practice of raiding cattle was common among Indo-European tribes and represents an archaic feature which must be considered historical, as similar events are also known from ancient Greece. A successful cattle raid was an assertion of the integrity of the tribal community and consequently was of major social importance, though it ceased to be practised in the wake of Christianity with Irish Catholic church law prohibiting such raids.

Táin Bó Regamna is one of the various and sometimes later composed remscéla leading up to the TBC: while being a small Táin Bó of its own right, it also serves as a pretext to anticipate certain events within TBC. It tells of the encounter between the Ulster hero Cú Chulainn and the war-godess Morrígan "Great Queen". The theme of confrontation between a hero and a supernatural being is actually a literary genre in itself, and is characterized by several typical features that are also found in our text: the name of the supernatural being is not explicitly mentioned until the end of the story, but is encoded in a riddle for his/her real name; the description of the supernatural being contains unambiguous hints as to his/her identity; the hero is defeated in one way or the other by the supernatural being; the hero is being foretold disaster.

Táin Bó Regamna has come down to us in two manuscripts, one from the fourteenth century AD, contained in the Yellow Book of Lecan (Y), and the other from the sixteenth century AD (Egerton 1782 (E)), which, albeit younger, contains fewer modernisations and additions. The language of the archetype seems to go back to the ninth century, thus belonging to the Early Middle Irish period and therefore somewhat younger than Compert Con Chulainn, the text of Lesson 1, yet the version used in the present lesson is that prepared and adapted to the Old Irish standard language in J. Corthals' edition of the text.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The following selection relates the events leading up to the encounter between Cú Chulainn and the Morrígan. The hero is woken up by the roaring of cattle. Outside his house he is met by his charioteer Lóeg, and the two follow the sound till they meet up with a highly unusual entourage, consisting of a red-haired woman clad in red, whose chariot is drawn by only one red horse in contrast to the customary two horses -- which moreover has only one leg -- accompanied by a big man who is driving a cow. The symbology points to the identity of the woman as the war-goddess Morrígan, yet her name is not mentioned. Cú Chulainn enters into a dispute with her over the cow.

Translation

When Cu Chulainn was in Dun Imrid, he heard something, a roaring of the cattle. And he woke up from his sleep and he threw himself out of his bed so that he reached the bench that was sitting on the floor. After that, outside with him, into the yard. And it was she, his wife, who brought his clothing and his armour on his trail. And he saw something, Laeg, in front of him, in his harnessed war-chariot, at Ferta Laeg, from the north.

"What brings you (here)?" said Cu Chulainn to Laeg.

"A roaring of cattle that I heard in the plain," said Laeg.

"Which direction?" said Cu Chulainn.

"From the north-west, in fact," said Laeg.

"(Let's go) on their trail!" said Cu Chulainn.

After this, they set out to Ath da Ferta. Afterwards, at the time they were there, they heard the rumble of the chariot on the side of Grellach Culgairi. They go down to it and see something, the chariot before them. A single red horse under it, and a single leg under the just-mentioned, and the shaft of the chariot through the horse, so that a wedge went through it till the surface of its forehead from the front. A red woman (was) in the chariot, and a red cloak around her, and two red eyebrows on her, and her cloak to the back between the two hind-poles of the chariot so that it dragged on the ground on her trail, and a big man (was) in front of the chariot. (There was) a tunic as a covering on him, and a forked pole of white hazel on his back; he was driving the cow.

"The cow (is) not happy with ye at her driving," said Cu Chulainn.

"The judging of this cow is indeed not fitting for you," said the woman. "(It is) not the cow of a friend nor of a companion to you."

"It is fitting for me indeed (to judge) the cows of all of the Ulstermen," said Cu Chulainn.

"You judge a great quantity, o Cu," said the woman.

"Why is it that it is her, the woman, who speaks to me?" said Cu Chulainn. "Why is it not him, the man, who speaks to me?"

Grammar

6 Initial Mutations

In Old Irish, a morphophonological phenomenon exists which causes phonological
alterations to the initial sounds of words in certain syntactical constructions.
Originally of purely phonological character, these changes were caused by
the old endings of the preceding forms/words; even though the original
endings had already been lost by the Old Irish period, their effects remained,
causing the initial sound of a following word or words to be lenited, nasalized
or aspirated. However, for a word to suffer initial mutation, the word causing
this does not necessarily have to immediately precede it, or can even be
completely absent, as is the case with the leniting and nasalizing relative
clauses (cf. lesson 4, section 16).

6.1 Lenition

Historically speaking, initial lenition was caused by the final vowel of
a syntactically closely connected preceding word. In such a context, the
following forms and words cause lenition of a following initial consonant:

There are general exceptions to initial lenition: where the Old Irish final sound and
the following initial consonant are homorganic, initial lenition does not occur and
the two sounds form an unlenited geminate instead; initial t and d are never
lenited after final n, l, s, th, d; the initial consonants of adjectival cach cech
'every', of the emphasizing particles sa, se, su, som etc. (cf. lesson 3,
section 15.1), and of the demonstrative particles so, sin are never lenited
(though the demonstrative particles are lenited when used as substantives after
prepositions and in sunda 'here').

Just like lesson 1, the text of this lesson provides many examples of initial
lenition, such as trianaL chotluḋ 'from his sleep' or the abovementioned
inaL ṡuiḋiu, lit. 'in his sitting', both lenited by the possessive pronoun,
3rd person singular masculine aL. In the phrase inL charpait the genitive
singular of the article lenites the following genitive noun (carpait), while
Ní bó charat na choicéli represents an instance of a following genitive
(carat, coicéli) being lenited for syntactic reasons. In diL ḃraí 'two
eyebrows' lenition is caused by the numeral 'two', and in aL Chú we find
lenition of the personal name due to the preceding vocative particle aL.

6.2 Nasalization

This phenomenon is generally caused by the following words and inflectional
forms, originally ending in -n (representing both old final -n and -m):

Declensional forms:

the accusative singular and genitive plural of all genders;

the nominative singular of all neuters;

the nominative, vocative, accusative and genitive dual of all neuters;

Nasalization affects both vowels and consonants. It causes prefixing of
n to an initial vowel, and of the homorganic nasal to the mediae g, d, b;
the tenues c, t, p are turned into mediae, and f into its voiced counterpart
v. Initial r, l, m, n and s are geminated when preceded by a proclitic
vowel (see below). In writing, nasalization is clearly indicated only in
the case of vowels and mediae; orthographic instances of nasalized c, t, p, f
are rare.

There are many instances of nasalization in the lesson text. The first sentence alone
presents us with four examples: AN mboí Cú Chulainn, where the conjunction
aN nasalizes the initial sound of the following copula; iN nDún Iṁriḋ,
with nasalization of the toponym caused by the preposition iN; coNgúalae,
again with nasalization of the finite verb (°cúalae) caused by a conjunction
(coN) used as a verbal particle; and finally aN ngéim, where the nasalization
of the direct object is due to the preceding article (accusative singular neuter).
In the phrase InaN ndiaiḋ, for example, we find the nasalizing 3rd person plural
of the possessive pronoun a, causing mutation of the following adverb.

6.3 Spirant Mutation

This phenomenon is generally caused by the original final -s of a syntactically
related preceding word, which may belong to any of the following categories:

Declensional forms:

the genitive singular of all feminines;

the accusative plural of all genders;

the nominative plural feminine and neuter of the article (also the same case-forms of some other words);

In pretonic position, all prepositions ending in a vowel, as well as the particles ro, no, the interrogatives cía ce and co, and the negatives ni ní, na, when no infixed pronoun is attached to them, geminate the initial consonant of a following verb or verbal compound (except in relative clauses).

Spirant mutation, also known as gemination, causes the doubling of an
initial consonant as a consequence of the progressive assimilation of the old
final sound of the preceding word. It also affects initial stressed vowels,
causing prefixation of h-. Already in decline in the Old Irish period,
gemination is only indicated in writing where the two words are written
together, as scribes never double the initial consonant of a separate word.
Unlike the other two types of mutation, which have become morphophonological
phenomena, gemination has never developed beyond a phonetic phenomenon.

Instances of gemination are found in the present lesson, for example in
coH hÁth da Ḟerta where the preposition coH causes mutation of
the following toponym, or in ocaH himmáin where the aspiration of
the verbal noun immáin is due to the possessive pronoun 3rd person
singular feminine a, which is here attached to the preposition oc.

7 Tmesis

As mentioned in lesson 1, section 2, whereas Proto-Celtic was an SOV language,
the basic word order of Old Irish is verb-initial, so that the finite verb
generally stands at the head of its clause. In Old Irish poetry and certain types
of prose, however, a more archaic syntax has been preserved, in which the first
preposition of a compound verb or the negative particle may stand alone at the
head of the clause, separated by other words from the remainder of the verb,
which follows later. This feature is known as tmesis. The following example
from Audacht Morainn illustrates this: Is tre ḟir flathemoin fo-síd sámi sube soad sádili-sláini
"It is through the justice of the ruler that he secures peace, tranquility,
joy, ease [and] comfort," where the preposition fo- of the compound verb
fo°sláini is separated from the rest of the verb by its objects (síd ... sádili).

8 Verbal Nouns and Their Use

The basics of the verbal noun have already been introduced in lesson 1, section
3.2. This chapter will take a closer look at the more advanced details of verbal
nouns and the constructions they are used in.

8.1 Morphology of the Verbal Noun

No uniform rules exist for the formation of verbal nouns. Though with many
exceptions, they are formed from the same root as the verb to which they belong.
The verbal nouns derived from strong verbs show a great diversity of formations; cf:

combag, combach from con°boing 'breaks';

tofun(n) from do°seinn 'pursues', in lesson 1;

su(i)de from saidid 'sits', in this lesson;

brith breth, genitive brithe, from berid 'bears';

mrath from marn(a)id, °mairn 'betrays';

aicsiu from ad°cí 'sees', in lesson 1;

ac(c)aldam from ad°gládathar 'addresses';

géim, in the present lesson, from géisid 'shouts, roars';

án, áin from agid 'drives';

clúas from ro°clu(i)nethar 'hears';

gabál from ga(i)bid 'takes'; etc.

The verbal nouns derived from weak verbs (cf. lesson 4, section 17.2) are usually
formed from the verbal stem by adding -ad, -ath or -iud, -iuth, -ud,
-uth, while weak denominative verbs usually employ the very abstract noun from
which they were derived.

8.2 Constructions Involving Verbal Nouns

As noted in lesson 1, section 3.2, verbal noun constructions often correspond
to the infinitives of other languages. They may also be used like English
infinitives connected by 'for ... to', as in Niba fír ... Cet do rainn na mucce,
'It is not just ... for Cet to divide the pig'; the object is in the genitive, as
in most cases, and the verbal noun is related to other nouns by means of do; but
other prepositions (cf. lesson 1, section 5) are found, too. Subjects also can be
connected to the verbal noun by a preposition, e.g. iN in the sentence
Conchuḃur dano iN suḋiu innaL charput 'Conchubur then was sitting in his
chariot' (cf. lesson 1, 1st selection), literally 'Conchubur then was in the (act
of) sitting in his chariot'.

9 General Synopsis of the Case Endings in Relation to the Noun-Stem Classes

In lesson 1, section 4, the different vocalic and consonantal stem-classes of Old
Irish were mentioned. Due to their variety, it is not always clear from the ending
of a declensional form which case-form of which stem-class the ending represents.
The following table offers a general synopsis of the different possibilities.
An [a], [i] or [u] after the C of the consonantal endings refers to its a-, i-,
or u-quality (i.e. velar, palatal or neutral -- cf. lesson 1, section 4).

Ending

Singular

Plural

Case

Stem

Case

Stem

Ca#

Nom.

O

Gen.

O

Nom.

Ā

Gen.

Ā

Nom/Acc/Voc. Ntr.

S

Gen.

Cons.

Gen.

Cons.

Acc.

O

Nom/Acc/Voc. Ntr.

O

Voc. Ntr.

O

Nom/Acc. Ntr.

Cons.

Voc.

Ā

Ci#

Nom.

Ī

Nom.

O

Nom.

I

Nom.

Cons.

Gen.

O

Dat.

Ā, I, Cons.

Acc.

Ā, I, Cons.

Voc.

O, I

Cu#

Nom.

U

Dat.

O, U

Acc.

U

Voc.

U

a#

Gen.

I

Nom/Acc/Voc.2 Ntr.

O

Gen.2

U

Nom/Acc/Voc.

Ā

Nom.

U

Acc.

Cons.

Nom/Acc.2 Ntr.

Cons.

e#

Nom.

YO

Gen.

YO

Nom.

YĀ

Gen.

YĀ/Ī

Gen.

Ā

Gen.

I

Gen.

YĀ/Ī

Gen. (Cae)

U

Gen.

S

Gen.

S

Acc.

YO

Nom/Acc. Ntr.

YO

Voc.

YĀ

Nom/Acc/Voc. Ntr.

I

Nom/Acc. Ntr.

S

Nom. (Cae)

U

i#

Gen.

YO

Nom.

YO

Dat.

YĀ/Ī

Nom.

YĀ/Ī

Acc.

YĀ/Ī

Nom.

I

Voc.

YO

Acc.

YĀ/Ī

Acc.

I

Nom. (Cai)

U

o#

Gen.

I, U

u#

Acc.

O, U

Voc.

O

(i)u#

Dat.

YO

Acc.

YO

Voc.

YO

(a)ib#

Dat.

O, Ā, U, Cons.

ib#

Dat.

YO, YĀ/Ī, I, S

10 The Pronoun

Old Irish distinguishes four major groups of pronouns, which are: personal,
possessive, interrogative, and demonstrative pronouns. These are divided
into several subclasses.

Personal pronouns exist for all three persons, singular and plural, with a
distinction of the three grammatical genders in the 3rd person singular. Proclitic
and enclitic forms are far more numerous than the stressed ones. The proclitic
forms became attached to a pretonic preverb and are therefore considered
to be 'infixed' in the verbal form. Three different sets of infixed personal
pronouns exist, whose usage depends on phonological and syntactical constraints.
The enclitic forms are suffixed either to certain verbal forms or to prepositions,
with which they combine to give the so-called 'conjugated prepositions' (cf. lesson
1, section 5). A special type of personal pronoun are the emphasizing particles,
or notae augentes, which exist in various forms for each person, with a
distinction between masculine/neuter versus feminine in the 3rd person singular.
A detailed description of the personal pronoun will follow in lesson 3, section 15.

The possessive pronouns are formally the old genitive forms of the personal
pronoun, and are therefore not inflected. Again, stressed and unstressed
forms exist, with the stressed ones being used very rarely. The unstressed
forms are different for the first and second persons, while the form for
the third persons is a in the singular and plural, and the number/gender
can only be inferred from the following initial mutation: lenition for the
3rd person singular masculine/neuter, aspiration for the 3rd person singular
feminine, and nasalization for the 3rd person plural. Details on the possessive
pronoun will be given in lesson 3, section 15.

The interrogative pronoun distinguishes two forms: An unstressed or weakly
stressed form ce, ci, cía, invariable in gender and number, as well as a
more fully stressed form cía 'who?', neuter cid, ced 'what?', plural
citné. For details on the interrogative pronoun see lesson 8, section 40.1.

The adjectival demonstratives known from other IE languages are expressed in
Old Irish by a combination of the definite article with adverbs of place, like
so, se, sin, etc.; see in this lesson the phrase ÍarN sin immach doL ṡuiḋiu ...
'After that outside with him ...', or in lesson 1 the phrase ind amsir sin
'at that time'. The demonstrative is often emphasized by stressed í (hí),
placed before the demonstrative particle, e.g. in fer (h)í-siu 'this man'.
Details on the article and on the demonstratives will be given in lesson 6,
section 30.